1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to interactive voice response applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of interactive voice response (IVR) applications for use in telephone systems has reduced operating costs for many types of businesses by reducing telephone related staffing requirements. Such IVR applications typically answer incoming telephone calls and present to callers audible menus of selectable options. The callers usually make menu selections in one of two ways: depressing a key or sequence of keys on a touch tone keypad; or issuing a spoken utterance.
In an IVR application, a plurality of hierarchically related menus are typically presented which a caller must navigate to find the option that the caller wishes to select. Navigating through such menus can be time consuming and frustrating, especially if the caller makes an incorrect selection during the navigation process. Callers can be exasperated by branches of a menu hierarchy unrelated to the caller's individual concerns, which nevertheless need to be endured before desired menu options are presented. Such contextually unimportant menu options can be particularly aggravating to frequent users of the IVR application. Oftentimes, frustrated callers will hang up prior to successfully navigating the menus or opt out of the menu system in an attempt to speak with an operator. Particularly concerning are the cases where the callers that hang up in frustration are potential customers or clients.